Sacred Art of Living Organization – Contacting the Dead

“Not to oppose error is to approve it, and not to defend the truth is to suppress it” - Pope St. Felix III

Note: In this report I may occasionally use bold print, Italics, dotted underline or word underlining for emphasis. This will be my personal emphasis and not that of the source that I am quoting.

Q: I have concerns regarding The Sacred Art of Living Movement. They encourage a ‘soul friend’, ‘ancient healing prayers and conversations with your deceased relatives. They say it is based on our ‘Druid ancestors’. I am concerned because the chaplain at work says Santa Barbara California Hospice and now Cleveland hospices are paying for their staffs to be trained in this. What so you think? Sincerely, Katie

A: I need more information regarding what they consider a soul friend. We often hear about ‘soul mates’ that generally refer to a very close relationship with another person. I also need some examples of their ‘ancient healing prayers’ to determine if they are Christian or not. Many of our Catholic prayers are many centuries old. However, conversations with dead relatives and reference to druids give rise to concern!

“All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to ‘unveil’ the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone."¹ “All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one’s service and have a supernatural power over others – even if this were for the sake of restoring their health – are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion. These practices are even more to be condemned when accompanied by the intention of harming someone, or when they have recourse to the intervention of demons. Recourse to so-called traditional cures does not justify either the invocation of evil powers or the exploitation of another's credulity."² “Do not practice divination or soothsaying.”³ “Do not go to mediums or consult fortune-tellers, for you will be defiled by them.”⁴ “When you come into the land which your Lord, your God, is giving you, you shall not learn to imitate the abominations of the peoples there. Let there not be found among you anyone who immolates his son or daughter in the fire, nor a fortune-teller, soothsayer, charmer, diviner, or caster of spells, nor one who consults ghosts and spirits or seeks oracles from the dead. Anyone who does such things is an abomination to the Lord, and because of such abominations the Lord, your God, is driving these nations out of your way.”⁵ “The First Commandment: I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them. It is written: ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve'’"⁶

It is abundantly clear from the doctrine of Holy Church and from Holy Scriptures that it is a grave sin to communicate with the dead by conjuring those spirits. Those involved in The Sacred Art of Living Movement are violating the First Commandment by communicating with the dead!

Definitions

• “Clairvoyance: The professed power of discerning objects not present to the senses.”⁷

• “Divination: The pseudo-science of predicting future events or exploring past events through occult means."⁸

• “Druid: One of an ancient Celtic priesthood appearing in Irish and Welsh sagas and Christian legends as magicians and wizards."⁹

• “Medium: One who practices necromancy.”¹⁰

• “Necromancy: Attempting to foretell the future or receive knowledge of past events through communication with the dead.”¹¹

• “Soothsaying: The act of foretelling events.”¹²

• “Sorcery: Attempting to make a pact with satan to attain power in order to influence events in the world.”¹³

• “Spiritism: The attempt to communicate with departed souls. These practices often involve the use of ouija boards, seances, table-tapping and various forms of witchcraft. Even though there is some record of communication with the dead, this action is a sin against the respect that is owed God as creator.”¹⁴

This report prepared on October 29, 2007 by Ronald Smith, 11701 Maplewood Road, Chardon, Ohio 44024-8482, E-mail: hfministry@juno.com Readers may copy and distribute this report as desired to anyone as long as the content is not altered and it is copied in its entirety. In this little ministry I do free Catholic and occult related research and answer your questions. Questions are answered in this format with detailed footnotes on all quotes. If you would like to be on my list to get a copy of all Q&A’s I do, please send me a note. If you have a question(s), please submit it to this landmail or e-mail address. Answers are usually forthcoming within one week. If you find error(s) in my report(s), please notify me immediately!

+ Let us recover by penance what we have lost by sin +